160. Ark / Burn The Sun. 2001. 4/5.

I’m going to say here that it would have been very easy to have missed the band Ark when they were out and about around the turn of the century. The five piece came together from a number of different bands, all looking to find a place where they could create an album that could combine their varied talents into something that would be a unique look at the music scene of the time. In that regard, they would succeed handsomely.
Ark came together in what some people titled a ‘supergroup’, with the artists having all proven their worth in other bands before being brought together for this project. Guitarist Tore Østby came from the band Conception, meeting with former TNT and Yngwie Malmsteen drummer John Macaluso. The core of the band was completed by the recruitment of lead singer Jorn Lande. With all of the players well known in the Nordic communities, the band released their self-titled debut album in 1999 to a reasonable response. Following the tour to support the album, the band brought in bass guitarist Randy Coven from Holy Mother and another former Yngwie Malmsteen player (and there have been a few of them) in keyboard player Mats Olausson to come on board to strengthen the musical base they were looking to create.
Moving on to their follow up album, the band stepped outside of the normal conformities of an album and pulled out all of the stops to create something that would be unique. Though primarily a band that settled into the genre of progressive rock and metal, they took into the studio a desire to infuse a number of other genres into their music hoping to create something that would be a counterpoint to what was happening around them at the time. The attempt to utilise pieces of jazz, folk, fusion and even reggae was a bold move, one that could easily have blown up in their faces. Did they succeed in bringing something unique to their music? All would be revealed on their second album, one where the quality of musicianship could not be questioned, but the direction of their art perhaps could be, that was released under the title of “Burn the Sun”.

One of the main things to consider when coming into this album is the great degree of differentiation in the style of music that is found on these songs. Because even though there are songs here that draw out like a normally structured metal track, and others that draw out like a typical progressive metal track, there are others that utilise more interesting characteristics than you would necessarily be prepared for.
The opening of “Heal the Waters” combines the progressive style with a funky bass and guitar riff to drive into the middle of the track. Jorn’s appearance on vocals immediately settles the song, but the rises and falls in the music and vocals throughout this opening stanza does set the platform for what is to come. Macaluso’s drumming is perpetual, colliding into rolls and hard driving motions, pulled along by Ostby’s unique guitar style that ranks favourably alongside the other greats of the era. His offset duel with Oloussen on keys in the middle of the track offers a wonderful portent of the collaboration of all the band members from the outset. “Torn” immediately changes up to a slower and moodier setting by the bass and syth while Jorn croons in his way over the top, before the middle of the track becomes almost a jungle beat on the drums and a frenzied kaleidoscope of guitar an synth while Jorn continues on unabated. The sudden conclusion is greeted by the start of the title track which follows a more studied heavy combination of guitar and drums, combining spoken word with Jorn’s more determined vocal. “Resurrection” draws the tempo and mood even further, moving between the dark and mysterious to the increased energy and emotional output through the guitar solo into the back half of the song, before the frenzied guitar conclusion brings us home. The opening four tracks have offered a wide arrangement of styles to enjoy.
Then take a listen to “Absolute Zero”, whose greatest feature is the whacked out Stewart Coupeland-esque drumming from Macaluso that is the mainstay of the song, and the somewhat sublime beginning that stretches to outlandishly fast tempo guitaring and vocals in the second half of the song. It is a song that takes some time to break down and enjoy for what it is. “Just a Little” opens and is based around a Spanish flamenco acoustic guitar arrangement that still retains the power and energy of the songs that have come before it, finishing off in a style reminiscent of Dream Theater. Jorn’s vocals here, as they are throughout of course, are just amazing. “Waking Hour” travels down a similar path to “Torn” with latent melodies combined with an off beat crashing of parts by the conclusion of the song.
“Noose” bangs back in from the outset, finding its rhythm from the start and holding course, before Ostby breaks out of the chorus into his solo that leaps right off the page and takes on a world of its own, separating from the keys riff underneath to wrap itself into another musical dimension. Here again can be found similarities to those great progressive metal bands of the era, with each member of the band showcasing terrific talent. It is probably the heaviest song on the album.
”Feed the Fire” moves along with the most mainstream guitar riff and rhtythm of the entire album, and Jorn’s vocals go to their highest part of their range along the way. The result of this is almost a commercial feel to the track – well, the closest anything on this album could come to having a commercial bent at least. Again... I hear bits of The Police here, though this time it is in the vocals rather than the drums. Anyway... “I Bleed” follows, in a slower tempo and a far more David Coverdale type vocal line from Jorn on this occasion. When he croons like this, the resemblance is uncanny. The album then concludes with “Missing You”, the slightly unfortunate rock ballad of the album, which Jorn sings amazingly, and the keys offer the exact emotion for the track they are looking for. At nine minutes in length, for me, it goes too long, despite the increase in power and heaviness as it reaches its conclusion. It’s fine, the conclusion saves it, but for those who have their pet hates like me it doesn’t quite cut to what has come before it.

Discovering this album would never have occurred for me if it was not for the band Masterplan. That band had come together after the dismissal of Roland Grapow and Uli Kusch from Helloween following “The Dark Ride” album, who then went on to form Masterplan and release a self-titled debut album, which I followed and bought. It was there that I discovered the amazing voice of Jorn Lande, who had left a band called Ark to do this project. So captivated by his voice did I become from this album, that I had to try and track down the music of this other band to see what he had done prior to Masterplan. Even in the days of file sharing this wasn’t an easy thing to do. Discovering the name of the band had been far easier than discovering any way to find a way to listen to the album. Eventually, I found a way to get the band’s second album. Which is where we are today.
Listening to the album when I first got it, back in 2005, it was a journey. The combination of sounds and genres was something that, just a few years earlier I probably would have had a difficult time coming to terms with. However, having spent a few years prior to this listening to more progressive metal bands such as Dream Theater and Symphony X along with the European power metal scene, I was much better placed to take in what this album offered. And a lot of it is different, which can be confronting when listening to an album. It’s nice to have a similar thread between the songs on an album, but that doesn’t necessarily exist here. It is hard to judge it now, knowing what Masterplan have done since. This is a very diverse effort, with a lot of conflicting styles interwoven.
Even now, I am not certain about how to take this album, and whether I love it, like it or just admire it. I I have had it on at work for the past few days, and have had one listen to it at home in the Metal Cavern on the stereo. And as always, I have enjoyed listening to the album. It is quirky. It moves through varied styles and tempos, which are both interesting and entertaining, and a little bit too much on occasions as well. I have spent some time going through each song as well in attempting to review it in my way, sifting through in order to find how they differ, perhaps why they differ, and how I feel about each of them. And again, my emotions are stretched. On the one hand I appreciate what the band did with each song, the changes in tempo and offbeats and guitaring and find it fascinating, and on the other hand I find that it can get a bit tiresome with all of those changes coming at you all the time. Listening to the album just as the album, I still really enjoy it. In trying to break down each track, it got a bit less exciting.
But you cannot deny that the musicianship is top shelf. Tore Ostby on guitar here is fantastic, and John Macaluso on drums is wonderful throughout. And Jorn Lande is still the out and out star of the album. His voice is tremendous and soars here throughout. With all things considered, I do have to continue to say that this is a terrific album. But it probably remains an album that I am torn about, because everything here screams ‘brilliant album’, and yet even now there is a nagging doubt in the pit of my stomach that maybe it isn’t as good as I think it is. It is hard to explain. I think in the long run that no matter how good this is, it is still a hard album to listen to.
As you will no doubt have gathered by now, this was Ark’s final album. When Jorn left to follow the Masterplan, the band broke up. Jorn’s quest for success has continued almost unabated since, with Masterplan and then his solo career as well as contributions to Avantasia, another super group. It leaves an album that showcases the excellent qualities of the musicians who played on it, and music that offers an interesting observation on one of the side shows of the early 2000’s.